What Makes a Safe Light Bulb – The Definitive Guide

Have you ever thought about whether your light bulbs are safe or giving off EMF radiation?

Newer light bulbs that have been developed to be more energy efficient, are actually some of the worst offenders.

Lighting are a big part of indoor spaces, and probably one of the biggest investments you can when you are renovate or making a brand new home. It takes time, energy, and money to decide exactly how you light up your indoor space — and it creates the light environment that you’re going to live in day after day.

Because you turn these on at night, extending your “daylight” hours, the type of light bulb you choose to fit your home in determines the quality of your environment.

Brief history of light bulbs

Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the first light bulb in 1878. They relied on the heat generated by a tungsten wire contained in a glass bulb and were called incandescent light bulbs. They are simple, and also generated heat, which can be useful in cooler climates.

As energy-efficiency considerations arose, however, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recognised that energy efficient alternatives needed to be made readily available and become the new standard for Americans. It, along with other governments, looked for ways to reduce energy use en masse.

The aim was to accelerate America’s shift from inefficient, dated lighting products to innovative, high-performance products that can save American consumers and business owners money.[r]

On 3 August 2011, the DOE officially announced Philips Electronics North America as the first winner of the L Prize competition with an LED replacement for the 60-watt incandescent bulb.

The $10 million U.S. government prize marked the first government-sponsored technology competition designed to challenge lighting manufacturers to develop high-quality, ultra-efficient solid-state lighting products to replace the common light bulb with energy-saving lighting alternatives.

Philips turned out to be the only official entrant in the competition and the LED bulb retails at $40, far more than people are used to paying for a light bulb. Government support would be crucial to help the LED be competitive in the market. [r]

So this was a big deal. With the backing of government policies and commitment by other governments in the world, traditional light bulbs began to be replaced by a new technology — the light-emitting diode, or LED.

The LED light bulb

the increasingly popular LED bulbs. LED or Light-Emitting Diode bulbs rely on (you guessed it) a diode to produce light. The diode controls the direction of the energy flow. They are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons within a semiconductor material.

An LED contains blue light, a driver, and a fluorescent sheet that covers the blue light by extending the wavelengths producing a more yellowish or orange light. In this way, it is similar to a type of fluorescent light; it can fool your brain into thinking it is a more natural light but does not protect you from the dangers of blue light exposure, especially at night.

There are two primary dangers when it comes to LED light bulbs:

• Exposure to blue light

• Creation of drty electricity (a form of negative EMF) and electromagnetic radiation

The health impact of LEDs

However, research around the health impact of a new lighting technology emerged.

blue light from sources like your phone, laptop, and LED bulbs suppresses melatonin production, the hormone responsible for regulating quality sleep and wakefulness.

Blue light can also induce headaches and migraines, worsening any pain symptoms that you have. It results in eye pain and fatigue, which was commonly called in the 1980s and 1990s as “computer vision syndrome”.

There are countless clinical studies that support the harmful effects of blue light especially for people who prone to headaches or migraine attacks. Researchers have suggested that there is a specific neural pathway from the eyes to the brain—separate from how vision is transmitted—that ultimately causes blue light wavelengths to worsen headache pain and other symptoms.

Some researchers suggest it is the specific wavelength, in and around 480nm, that leads to high discomfort. It creates a pain perception and even enhanced spreading of headache pain across the brain.

Finally, blue light from LEDs can damage your retina.

If you want to learn much more about blue light toxicity, check out these articles:

• Are you living in junk light?

• Study shows light at night increases your risk of type 2 diabetes

• Blue light can cause precocious puberty

CFL Light Bulbs

As mentioned, LEDs are similar to CFL or Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs.

These are even more dangerous, probably the least safe light bulb on the market today. This is because the CFL use an electric current driven through a tube typically containing mercury vapor.

ALL fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury vapor, which emits a lot of UV rays when hit with an electric current. Increased absorption of such UV radiation from CFLs has been linked to a variety of health effects and skin disorders.

One key study showing this direct cause is from 2012 study. Researchers from the State University of New York at Stony Brook showed in a paper that tiny defects in the bulbs can let through UV light that can damage skin cells and lead to cancer. Not one CFL bulb they studied did not have any cracks or defects in the phospor coatings. This meant the bulbs emitted very significant levels of UVC and UVA.

The energy efficient compact fluorescent lights that are commercially available generate radio frequency radiation and ultraviolet radiation, they contain mercury—a known neurotoxin, and they are making some people ill. Instead of promoting these light bulbs governments around the world should be insisting that manufacturers produce light bulbs that are electromagnetically clean and contain no toxic chemicals. — Dr Magda Havas, an expert of EMF radiation, www.weepinitiative.org/LINKEDDOCS/scientific/08_Havas_CFL_SCENIHR.pdf

Last but not least, CFLS produce dirty electricity in your whole-house circuits. Just like LED bulbs, the circuits are not equipped to handle the demand of CFLs, which leads to dirty electricity. This dirty electricity builds up in the wiring of our home flooding it with EMF radiation.

Many people still purchase CFL bulbs for the same reason of energy efficiency and cost. CFL bulbs can provide the same amount of lumens as incandescent light bulbs, using about one quarter of the energy.

incandescent light bulb

To appreciate the difference in lighting, let’s go back to understand what was traditionally used.

60-watt incandescent light bulb is one of the most widely used types of light bulbs by consumers, representing approximately 50% of the domestic incandescent light bulb market.

Although incandescents may not be the most energy-efficient, the safest available lightbulb is the traditional incandescent.

halogen light bulbs

A halogen light bulb is a type of incandescent lamp which uses a halogen gas in order to increase both light output and rated life. These are popular for its moderately high efficiency, quality of light, and high rated life compared to regular incandescent lamps.

How Can You choose the safest light bulb?

Light bulbs are not as innocuous as you might think.

If you have to be indoors and needing light, you don’t want to remain the in dark and shun all lighting sources, including light bulbs, because that can have physical and emotional consequences too.

So what are your options? Try this quick checklist to choose the safest and best light bulb you can and minimize the damaging effects of bad lighting:

• Buy and use traditional incandescent or halogen bulbs. These use traditional heat source to produce a natural warm glow of light.

• If you choose LEDs, choose a warmer-coloured LED bulb. LED-makers are realising the health impacts of too-blue LEDs and racing to come up with warmer-looking alternatives.

• If you have LEDs at home, install them in low-traffic zones. This means you reduce your exposure to toxic LED light, such as walkways, instead of overhead in bedrooms or where you work.

• In high-traffic zones and for light-sensitive tasks (such as sleep), use incandescent or halogen light bulbs. They may not be the most energy efficient, but they will help to reduce the amount of EMF radiation emitted in the spaces that you occupy.     

• Try "blue blocker" or blue-light filtering glasses, but don’t settle for cheap knock offs. TheraSpecs are a great brand, particularly if you already have migraine or another light-sensitive condition.

• Use "night mode" or similar apps that are native settings on your phone and your computer. This can warm the lighting on your device and make it easier on the eyes.

• Turn your phone or computer off at least 2-3 hours before you go to bed.

• Change your light bulbs to warmer tones and colors. Opt for more natural light if possible and avoid/remove fluorescents, if appropriate.

• Give your eyes a break. Look away from your screen at least once every 20 minutes to let your eyes reset. And don’t forget to blink!

• If you must work under an LED, position your desk so that you are next to an open window (at least a crack) and your body can receive full-spectrum light energy. And you can take eye breaks looking out an open window. This is a building biology hack!

References:

1. https://cleantechnica.com/2011/08/04/philips-wins-prestigious-department-of-energy-l-prize/

2. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/110803-philips-led-light-bulb-wins-l-prize

3. Tiny defects in CFL light bulbs can let through UV light that can damage skin cells and lead to cancer. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-1097.2012.01192.x